Watch Your Trucks!! VERY CLOSELY!!

[jerry]

Stewart, I man soon be the owner of a 2009 Ford f 150 4wd limited addition(or some crap name like that) truck.It has those big fancy mesa suburban gangster dip**** rims on it. Will this massively effect the amount of weight it will haul? http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/823857-payload-question.html

Just a brief follow-up:

I received a call from Alma at the Playa Inn today. She and the staff were very apologetic about what happened. She said that they went back and reviewed the video tape minute-by-minute. At 3:55 AM, they saw someone quickly cross the street into the parking lot by my truck. Within a minute, they said they could clearly see the interior lights of my truck go on, although they could not see anybody in the truck. At 3:58 AM, they saw the passenger door quickly open and close and the would-be thief quickly exit back across the street. Less than three minutes in the middle of the night. Don't ever doubt that "Gone in 60 Seconds" is a reality; alarm or no alarm.

I explained to Alma that I don't blame Playa Inn or hold any grudges against them - thieves can strike anywhere. It's likely they staked my truck out and watched the security guard's pattern and knew that they only had X amount of time before he'd be back around the corner again. We discussed that other vehicles had been stolen from Capone's. She said that they are considering bringing back a 2nd security guard now, even during slow weekends.

The concern on Playa Inn's part is obvious and is greatly appreciated!

 

[Submarine]

LOL yes, junk those crap wheels and get yourself some nice Weld's or Centerlines and BF Goodrich All Terrain KO tires. You just want enough wheel to clear the brake calipers.

If you really want payload capacity get airbags too.

 

[Stuart]

Jerry - Does it have chrome 24 emblems on the front fender? Dude, you be stylin'! For those that have no idea what I'm talking about, the current trend in the 'hood is to take whatever piece of crap you drive and slap the absolute biggest wheels with Band-aid thin tires under it. And, you gots to be advertisin' it, too, by putting chrome brag emblems on the front fender!



On the serious side, yes, those rims and tires will affect your load capacity and will be worthless if you ever decide to actually shift it into 4X4 and hit the sand. Sub was spot on - get the BFG AT radials. Absolute best tire for the money in Mexico, anywhere. I've run and abused them for years and have never had one fail on me. There's a reason they say 'Baja Champion' on the side of each tire!

 

[PintoPoint]

I have a 2004 Toyota Tundra and it came with 22" rims and low profiles tires. It hugged the road great but gas mileage sucked and all I had to do is drive by sand and I got stuck. Bought some take offs from a new FJ40 and the guy was putting on 22's.

Rick

 

[Submarine]

It must be an Arizona thing Stuart, as the natives know what tire to buy. My first Bronco had Firestone ATX's which were absolute pieces of ****. If I ran over flypaper I would have been stuck. When I got my first set of BFG's my friends were all mud-bogging in some good soupy mud after a monsoon. Everyone was getting stuck with their Pathfinders and other crap except me and the guys with mud specific tires (way too noisy). I tried 2x4, even stopping and going in reverse but it would just spin for a second then throw the mud off and get traction. (it took two days and a full garbage can of mud to clean up the carnage so I don't recommend this test)
Best testament to BFG is the fact that I always have a full size spare on hand and in 23 years and 4 trucks none of them have ever seen the ground. I use them as an actual size tire tread guage.

Rick it makes you wonder when you see some of those guys headed to the Dunes with their 22's huh?

 

[Seadweller]

Stuart.... that car must feel like you're riding on a forklift... I guess you could call those "run flat" tires, because they already look flat...

 

[Stuart]

Ahhh Sub... reminding me of the mud-bogging days! Yeah, been there, done that many a time. Used to love to go up to the Salt River after a heavy rain and hit the muddy trails. My motto used to be "Will winch for beer!" and Lord only knows how many stuck 4x4s I pulled out of the muck. Also remember bogging through farm fields down in Chandler after a good rain. Would take an hour to wash all the mud off the truck and the street would look like a major mudslide hit the neighborhood! Bet the City of Tempe street sweeper just loved my cul-de-sac!

Different testament to the BFGs - there have been times I've had to air them down to near flat to get out of the sand. They always held a bead on the rim, no matter how much I had to gun it to get out of the sand. Then, slow roll back into town to air them up. Didn't hurt them a bit. The tri-guard sidewall is what makes the difference.

Mark - c'mon... you *know* you want a set of 40's!! That is, if you could actually keep them on your car in the barrio! <snicker>

 

[Submarine]

That particular day most of the guys went to the Carwasher and they paid them to take their trucks elsewhere!

 

[rockyptjoe]

OK...you 4 wheeling gurus (Stuart/Sub/anybody else)...got a question....

Have a Dodge Ram2500 diesel....2WD with posi.....no lift.....if I put a couple of those babies on the rear (like 35/12.5/17 if I can fit them), and air'd down, would it help me driving around on some sand or launching off the public ramp in town? Or do I still need 4WD? I got stuck out at Playa San Gorge when I went out on the hard crust, and finally broke thru. Also got stuck out at Encanto (on the hill/parking area overlooking the beach that is now not accessible). I run LTX 265/70R17 Michelins on my truck....

 

[Stuart]

Absolutely, they'll help. Don't know that you need 35's; those are pretty damn big. Still no guarantee you won't get stuck with only two wheel drive. Most of the Mexican guys that run around on the beach use nearly flat, bald tires and two wheel drive. Then again, most of them aren't driving behemoth diesels - just small Nissans or Toyotas. I seldom run my diesel on the beach. Just too damned heavy. Where the 4x4 and the BFGs come in super handy is on the boat ramps - you'd definitely see a difference launching and recovering.

 

[Submarine]

I would keep them around 32 11.5's or whatever metric equivalent gets you the wider footprint (still can't stand metric tire measurements).

If you go too much bigger than what you are at now you might need to change your differential gearing.

I'm running 35's and while the 6 liter diesel will pull them I still get more turbo lag than I did with stock gearing. I'm going to have them changed and other stuff done when I have money to burn.

 

[rockyptjoe]

There's a dandy little converter on the web..... http://www.ajdesigner.com/fl_tire/tire.php

With 32/12.5/17's I can get about a 2 inch wider tire, with just about the same diameter (about .4 inch larger).....everything I've heard/read about driving on sand depends on "floating"...which means the widest footprint that you can get....but I still have the probem of the front tires sinking in if I don't change those out....right???

 

[Stuart]

Yes - because that's where most of the weight of your truck is. But, still not as big an issue because they're just rolling; there's no traction taking place as you have with your rear wheels. I'd recommend that whatever tire you decide on, you go to the same tire all the way around. I never change just one or two tires; they're always changed as a set of four. Once they get bad enough that one goes or starts to look iffy, the others certainly are not far behind. I hate changing tires beside the road in Mexico. Never have had to on my truck, but have had to change plenty on the trailer until I finally found the right tire. Been nearly three years now since I've had to change a tire (knock on wood!).

 

[Ladyjeeper]

Come on Joe, just bite the bullet and buy a 4 wheel drive. It's always better to have it and not need it than not have it and need it....:-D:-D

 

[rockyptjoe]

Shari...I could probably pick up a decent used Jeep for less than what those UTV's (or whatever they call those things) are going for...can you believe they want $15K for those things??? Wish I could...but can't afford another vehicle...still paying for my Dodge....

The 3 or 4 times I REALLY "needed" 4wd doesn't justify the added costs of a 4WD with the additional maintenance, lower fuel economy, plus the initial cost differential.....

 

[jerry]

Thanks for the info guys. i think it has 20-inch wheels and 35/12.50R20 tires What if i just put the tires/rims you guys are suggesting on the back? i carry around 20-30 50 lb bags of specialty concrete mixes quite often with my 99 chevy 1500 4wd without a problem... QUOTE=Stuart;18004]Jerry - Does it have chrome 24 emblems on the front fender? Dude, you be stylin'! For those that have no idea what I'm talking about, the current trend in the 'hood is to take whatever piece of crap you drive and slap the absolute biggest wheels with Band-aid thin tires under it. And, you gots to be advertisin' it, too, by putting chrome brag emblems on the front fender!

View attachment 1016View attachment 1017

On the serious side, yes, those rims and tires will affect your load capacity and will be worthless if you ever decide to actually shift it into 4X4 and hit the sand. Sub was spot on - get the BFG AT radials. Absolute best tire for the money in Mexico, anywhere. I've run and abused them for years and have never had one fail on me. There's a reason they say 'Baja Champion' on the side of each tire![/QUOTE]

 

[Roberto]

Well we're far from the original topic so I've got a vehicle question. Anyone want to guess fuel consumption of a Ford E-450 7.3L turbo diesel? It's on a class B motorhome so probably pretty heavy.

 

[Submarine]

Probably around 10 mpg which would be double that of the gas motor.

Definitely get the wider tires all around Joe. While we're on the subject, wider tires help on trailers too though you will sacrifice some fuel economy on the road. I was using standard 14" trailer tires on my jetski trailer in Oregon and it was like pulling a barge. Switched to lower profile tires and wheels as wide as would fit and they roll again.

 

[jcorderaz]

Hi everyone,

I had my truck stolen over a year ago down at RP. I was at the Peacemaker circus mexicus concert the last year it was by Sunset cantina. I had left my truck (F250) right in front of the Thrifty's ice cream near by.

Lucky for me, the federales recovered my truck (40 miles away, towards sonoita) later that night. It was busted up, but running.

The thieves had popped the passenger side lock and busted the ignition.

Since then, I put a blank plate on the passenger side in place of the lock and jimmi jammer on the driver side. I also had revelco installed.

Regards,

Jim